Investigation into mishandling of Hurricane Katrina...

February 13, 2006

Investigation into mishandling of Hurricane Katrina finished WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unheeded warnings, poor planning and apathy in recognizing the scope of Hurricane Katrina's destruction led to the slow emergency response from the White House down to local parishes, a House investigation concludes. The 600-page report by a special Republican-dominated House inquiry into one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history concluded that late state and local evacuation orders exacerbated an untrained and inexperienced force of federal emergency responders. It also said President Bush received poor and incomplete counsel about the crisis unfolding in the Gulf Coast. Overall, the House report said, the federal government's response to Katrina was marked by "fecklessness, flailing and organizational paralysis." "At every level -- individual, corporate, philanthropic, and governmental -- we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina," the report concluded. Report details early results of AIDS emergency relief plan WASHINGTON (AP) -- In its first two years, the Bush administration's global AIDS plan has spent $5.2 billion to help prevent 47,100 infections in infants, bring drug therapy to 471,000 ill people, and care for more than 1.2 million children orphaned by the disease. Those were among the highlights of a data-heavy report submitted to Congress last week describing early results of the $15-billion, five-year project, formally known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The vast majority of the money is being spent in 12 African nations and in Guyana, Haiti and Vietnam, although the program is paying for some AIDS work in more than 100 other countries, including Russia and India. Selection for jurors in Moussaoui trial gets under way this week ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Prosecutors and defense lawyers in the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui are searching for the perfect jury, poring through hundreds of questionnaires from potential jurors and looking for clues to their perceptions of the case. Jury selection will be particularly difficult for the defense. The team must find an unbiased panel for a man who prosecutors say could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, just a few miles from the courthouse where the trial takes place. Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with al-Qaida to use aircraft to destroy buildings in the United States. Moussaoui denies any involvement in Sept. 11 and says he was preparing to fly a plane into the White House as part of a second wave of attacks. Prosecutors must directly link Moussaoui to the attacks to obtain the death penalty. Potential jurors were called in Feb. 6 to fill out 49-page questionnaires asking about religious practices, perceptions of Islam, reactions to Sept. 11 and feelings on the death penalty. Individual questioning of jurors begins Wednesday, with opening statements from lawyers set for March 6. Saddam continues boycott of trial proceedings BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The dock at Saddam Hussein's trial will stand empty today, according to lawyers for the former Iraqi president, who said he and his seven co-defendants will continue their boycott when proceedings resume. The hearing will mark the latest troubled chapter in the trial of Saddam and his co-defendants for the killing of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims after the former ruler survived a 1982 assassination attempt in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad. Judge Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, took over last month after his predecessor stepped down amid criticism over his handling of the trial, during which Saddam and his half brother and one-time intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim hurled abuse at witnesses and interrupted the proceedings. The defense claims that Abdel-Rahman is unfit to try the case because he was sentenced to life in absentia in the 1970s for anti-state activity. Iranian government demands apology for Rice's accusations TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The Iranian government on Sunday rejected an accusation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it has fanned violent protests over caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and demanded an apology, saying that could reduce growing tension. Rice, meanwhile, said Iran and Syria should be urging their citizens to remain calm -- not encouraging violence like last week's attacks on Western diplomatic missions in Tehran, Damascus and Beirut, Lebanon. Nearly a dozen people also were killed in protests in Afghanistan. The drawings -- including one that depicts the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb -- have been reprinted in several publications in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in what publishers say is a show of solidarity for freedom of expression.